You Can Use a Replacement American Express Card Immediately with Apple Pay

Don’t you hate it when one of your credit cards gets compromised. Aside from having to call up the credit card issuer and explain what happened, you also lose access to the card in question for a week or two while a replacement is processed.

Sure, there might not be any liability for the unauthorized charges, which is a sigh of relief, but you’re still left out in the cold while the issuer works on sending out a replacement.

Guess you’ll have to use one of your other cards in the meantime…

Expected Arrival: Next Week

Here’s what happened to us recently. We noticed a charge we didn’t make and quickly contacted American Express to point that out.

After a brief explanation regarding the situation, they went ahead the deactivated the card. By the way, we were on vacation at the time, feeling a little powerless.

When the card was canceled, an email was quickly, maybe an hour later (hours = days on the internet) sent over explaining that a replacement card was processed and would be mailed out in a few days.

A few days is certainly better than a few weeks, but it’s still not fast enough in today’s digital age, is it? We need instant gratification NOW.

Just seconds after that email was sent, another arrived in our inbox letting us know that the new Amex replacement card was updated in Apple Pay.

And not only that, it was ready to use immediately. The email also contained the last five digits of the card, so we knew it was a new card and which one it was when using Apple Pay.

The email said the information was updated “so that you can continue to use Apple Pay to make purchases while you wait for your Card.” Sweet!

How About a Card Ready to Use in an Hour?

Despite the card being compromised, a new digital card was issued within an hour or so and ready for use via Apple Pay.

This meant we could continue to use our Amex card despite the security breach. The only caveat here is that the uninterrupted service does rely on the merchant accepting Apple Pay, which we all know isn’t a foregone conclusion.

In fact, many, many merchants do not accept Apple Pay. But for those that do, this is a great way to get back on your feet after losing a card, especially if you find yourself on vacation or far from home.

Additionally, American Express let us know that any Amex Offers tied to the old card would be automatically transferred to the replacement card, another bonus for those who constantly take advantage of those handy statement credits.

This is one of the many reasons why American Express is tops when it comes to customer service. They actually lost their top ranking to Discover recently, but stuff like this might help them retain their crown.

And this might be a good reason to add your credit cards, at least those from Amex, to Apple Pay. Otherwise you might be without your card for a week.